Skate park to be closed after alcohol, drugs found

LODI - Lodi parks and recreation officials said the city's skate park will be closed for the weekend as a punitive measure after some users violated park rules relating to drug and alcohol use.

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By The Record

recordnet.com

By The Record

Posted Jun. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By The Record
Posted Jun. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

LODI - Lodi parks and recreation officials said the city's skate park will be closed for the weekend as a punitive measure after some users violated park rules relating to drug and alcohol use.

The park gate was open on Friday, and skateboarders and bike riders were using the facility. Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director Jeff Hood said his desire was to close the skate park Friday, but he is out of town and city offices were closed Friday because of the city's nine days/80 hours work schedule.

Hood said Friday afternoon that the park "will be closed tomorrow until further notice." A posting on the PRCS Facebook page states the park will be closed through Sunday, and goes further to state a reopening date is undecided.

Lodi officials closed the park, located within Kofu Park on Ham Lane near Kettleman Lane, for most of last summer because of increased vandalism and drug use. The park's past crime log also includes a sexual assault.

Hood worked to reopen the park in September after community members, skateboarders, BMX bike riders and parents vowed to help keep it clean.

The city invested $6,000 in repairs and maintenance at the skate park and planned to keep it open all summer. A newly hired parks police officer is also charged with occasional patrols of the skate park.

Hood said police found marijuana and alcohol in the park on Thursday.

"We're not going back to the way it used to be when we had rampant marijuana and alcohol use," Hood said in an email. "We'll do everything we can to ensure it's a safe environment. I had warned park users last fall that the park would close if bad conduct repeated itself."